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French or Spanish curriculum suggestions?
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Carli
Posted 2009-11-07 3:06 AM (#143156)
Subject: French or Spanish curriculum suggestions?



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My oldest wants to add in either Spanish or French next year.  I haven't looked into any programs for this yet.  Where should I begin looking?
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Martha R.
Posted 2009-11-07 6:18 AM (#143157 - in reply to #143156)
Subject: RE: French or Spanish curriculum suggestions?





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Do you speak either of them? How does dd learn best?
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Carli
Posted 2009-11-07 8:16 PM (#143215 - in reply to #143156)
Subject: RE: French or Spanish curriculum suggestions?



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I speak some French but not a lot.  Dd is both audio and visual...would need a combination of the two I think.
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Martha R.
Posted 2009-11-09 8:30 PM (#143506 - in reply to #143215)
Subject: RE: French or Spanish curriculum suggestions?





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How about Rosetta Stone? It's auditory and visual. You might also see if you can get Muzzy from your library. My kids STILL remember a lot from Muzzy, and that was years and years ago!
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Pam in Colorado
Posted 2009-11-08 12:42 AM (#143245 - in reply to #143156)
Subject: Re: French or Spanish curriculum suggestions?



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We have Learnables for both of these languages. My girls are just starting them and they like them but at 9 and 10 they are less than diligent in them. My 9 yo has decided that she really isn't that interested in learning French and might rather go with Spanish instead.

Are you familiar with the Learnables?
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Sis
Posted 2009-11-08 10:44 AM (#143260 - in reply to #143156)
Subject: RE: French or Spanish curriculum suggestions?



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I have tried SO many Spanish programs!   For school "credit" I'd like to encourage you to remember how it was in school.    Did you finish the book?  Did you know the language?  As homeschoolers we tend to think the subject isn't done, or "covered" until it's mastered.  Not so with foreign languages. The first year is pretty much to get you familiar with the basics.  You'll "master" a few phrases but unless you really go the extra mile, it doesn't stick.  (This may be different for those with an aptitude for languages, but most people only remember about 5 phrases from high school foreign language.)

With that said, you may choose to really learn a language!     Be prepared to go beyond the program.  Label everything, speak it to one another whenever possible, insert palabras en sentences, "order dinner" by asking for the specific foods in the target language, turn your dvd's to the target language, etc.

 

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Caroline C.
Posted 2009-11-09 7:18 PM (#143489 - in reply to #143156)
Subject: Re: French or Spanish curriculum suggestions?



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We're using The Easy French (there's also The Easy Spanish), but we've just completed the first three lessons (weeks), so I'm not sure I can give you a good review yet. So far, dd, 14, likes it. She chose it because it uses a book with audio cd rather than a cd-rom program. We're using level 1A. If she completes levels 1A and 1B it would be considered 1 credit.
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Caron
Posted 2009-11-30 1:02 PM (#145681 - in reply to #143156)
Subject: RE: French or Spanish curriculum suggestions?


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Unless they've significantly revised their courses within the past few years, I would stay away from A Beka's foreign language programs.

There are inductive and deductive approaches to foreign language instruction.  Rosetta Stone takes an inductive approach.  Most (but not all) textbook programs tend to be more deductive.  We tried Rosetta Stone in two different languages with two different children, and the inductive, auditory, approach made them crazy.  That's not to say that Rosetta Stone is a bad program.  It was just a poor fit for my kids.  They both did better with a more deductive program.

We have now used BJUP's Spanish for three children.  It has worked well for them.  The strengths of BJUP include the fact that it has a strong audio component in addition to the text.  However, BJUP needs someone available who has some familiarity with Spanish.  Our homeschool group hired a Spanish tutor to use BJUP Spanish.  To help my youngest, I took a year of college Spanish a year or two ago.  That would have been sufficient for me to teach all of BJUP Spanish 1 and most, if not all, of BJUP Spanish 2.  We used a different program (for the older two kids) for Spanish 3, because BJUP's Spanish 3 didn't include an audio component at the time.

Just our experience, but HTH,

Caron

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Sherry R
Posted 2009-12-03 9:58 AM (#146024 - in reply to #143156)
Subject: RE: French or Spanish curriculum suggestions?


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We've tried a bunch of different programs over the years with various prices and two stick out in my mind as being THE BEST.
The first one is Speedy Spanish. Two of my children used the program and one of them can read and understand Spanish fairly well. She does not speak any, however. I think the biggest reason is because she is shy. We have gone to several bilingual plays and she can fill us in on the details. My son did not do well with the program. She is the type of person who does well reading and doing workbooks. He is an auditory learner.
The second program is Rosetta Stone. Zach is doing very, very well with it. Michaela also uses it.
I wish I could list all the other programs that we had tried previous to these two all with no success. One in particular I thought was very badly done (thought it was pricey). Wish I could be more helpful!
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Sis
Posted 2009-12-03 12:25 PM (#146040 - in reply to #146024)
Subject: RE: French or Spanish curriculum suggestions?



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I'm SO glad to hear someone else talk about Speedy Spanish!  It's been one of my very favorite Spanish courses.  I LOVE that it's based around the Lord and teaches scripture in Spanish!  I just don't know how it would be counted "credit"-wise, but I do know that I got full credit for two years of Spanish in public school and came away knowing a handful of phrases.  (I probably do best with a workbook format also.)

Rosetta Stone has so many components to it that it great to have around for any time learning.  My favorite parts about it are that I can shut my eyes and just listen and then check my "answer" and that you can talk to it and it will judge your tone.   

 

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Sherry R
Posted 2009-12-03 12:33 PM (#146043 - in reply to #146040)
Subject: How I counted it:


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She did level 1 & 2 and can understand and read spanish, so... I counted it as two years. Zach has put in the same time but isn't successful with it and I am not sure if I will award him credit or not. I think he will get a year, though.
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Highlandhills6
Posted 2009-12-03 11:25 AM (#146030 - in reply to #143156)
Subject: Re: French or Spanish curriculum suggestions?


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My 7th grade daughter is really enjoying Rosetta Stone french. She is motivated to do it on her own and I noticed over Thanksgiving when we were playing a family trivia game she was able to come up with an answer because it had a french word in it. I bought mine new because of the unlimited money back guarantee I think she'll stick with it though.
Hope this helps!
Linda
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